How will this experience be useful as you move forward with your own professional development?

How did you apply what you learned in your coursework during the internship?

How has the internship increased your understanding of digital public humanities work?

How well prepared did you feel the coursework prepared you for your internship?

Please include other comments about challenges you faced, unexpected fun discoveries.

For both Fall and Spring semesters, I interned for the Smithsonian Institution Cultural Rescue Initiative. Their mission is to “protect cultural heritage threatened or impacted by disasters and to help U.S. and international communities preserve their identities and history” (Mission Statement). While their primary charge is to aid in the preservation of cultural heritage sites during disasters, they are also tracking museum and other cultural institutions around the world.

This second task is the one we were focused on during our internship. We were each assigned countries or regions to focus on in order to inventory the cultural institutions in these locations. We built on the work of previous interns and added new information. We used Museum of the World, produced by the academic publisher De Gruyter, as our starting point for locating museums.

Several museums were listed in De Gruyter’s Museums of the World, but additional research was necessary.

During fall semester, the George Mason interns worked together to focus on museums in the Caribbean. This area was a high priority because of hurricane damage from Irma and Maria. The following semester, we worked on our assigned countries in a more solitary fashion since we did not share regions. I was assigned the country of Denmark. While there was the benefit of working at our own pace, I missed the collegial nature of working together even in an online environment. We primarily focused on Western and Eastern Europe.

Damage to St. Maarten from Hurricane Irma, September 6, 2017, from the Ministry of Defense, NetherlandsBrockdorff Palace, one of four palaces of Amalienborg in Copenhagen

As part of this internship, I reported to Brian Daniels, the Director of Research and Programs for the Penn Cultural Heritage Center at the University of Pennsylvania Museum and a research associate with the Smithsonian Institution Archives, and to Gracie Golden, the Administrative Coordinator. Throughout both semesters, Gracie took the lead with our phone meetings. However, Brian would join the discussions as needed and answer questions by email or through Gracie when he was unable to attend. These regular meetings helped to keep me focused on the assigned tasks. It was also an opportunity to connect with the group.

In addition to data collection, we wrote two blog posts per semester for the SCRI blog. I was pleased to see that my submission“Using Librarian Research Skills to Track Down Museums” was posted on the blog. This post focused on the research skills needed to track down museums and other cultural organizations that were not listed in established sources like Museums of the World. This search required a discerning eye when evaluating Google search results in the effort to establish the veracity and legitimacy of museums on small Caribbean islands like St. Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines. This task also incorporated lessons we learned in our classes about historical thinking. The assignment required that I carefully evaluate the sources and think critically about them. As a result, additional museums were added to the list while other ones were vetted out.

Near the end of the second semester, Brian tasked us with creating a map of the museums. He said that he wanted us to analyze which mapping tools would best serve the project’s needs. This led to a larger discussion of the goals for this kind of data visualization, and I believe our class readings and projects made this discussion possible. As we discussed in our classes, there needs to be defined goals when choosing and utilizing digital humanities tools. In fact, this step comes after deciding if these tools will enhance the project in a meaningful way and will not just be a superficial addition. As a group, we discussed the possible mapping platforms that we could use. A spreadsheet was set up to list the possibilities along with the pros and cons of each one, along with any noteworthy details. We considered the following categories:

Cost, if any

Number of data points supported

Primary features

Mobile capabilities

Any restrictions

Snapshot of the spreadsheet created by interns to determine which mapping platform would best meet the project needs.

We considered CartoDB because of class experience along with GeoDjango, ArcGIS, Open Street Maps, Tableau, Simply Analytics, Google Maps, and Google Fusion Tables. We strongly considered Carto because of our experience using it in class assignments. Its website has excellent and extensive guides to help users create and customize maps. Despite the lower threshold for entry, users still need some prior knowledge in dealing with GIS data. However, we ultimately decided that Google Fusion Tables was the best fit for our needs and goals. The benefits included: ability to merge multiple tables, cloud storage space, real-time collaboration between multiple users, ability to upload massive amounts of datasets, and data visualization through mapping. As with our classes, the Slack app was useful when collaborating with the other Mason interns. We were able to further our discussions about which mapping platform to use and then worked through any issues we came across. It was a supportive environment for asking questions and tackling technical problems. Since our classmates Andris and Hannah were at a stopping point with the data collection, they delved further into the mapping project. They were able to set up the account with Gracie and then refine the tables and mapping component. In order to add greater customization, Andris uploaded the information from the Google Fusion Table to his website. This version allows us to show which museums have completed information (including descriptions), which ones have partial data, and which ones only have verified geographic coordinates. It provides a snapshot of where the project is in its list of museums. After looking at mapping projects like Digital Harlem and Histories of the Mall in our classes, this mapping project definitely has great potential for the future. This map shows how digital humanities tools can be used to enhance projects in a meaningful way. Down the road, it would be possible to add an image (with the consideration of copyright) to each museum using Google Fusion Tables.

This part of the internship was valuable to our digital humanities experience, and I wish we could have started on this portion sooner in the semester. However, we were able to set the foundation for this part of the project. We were also able to make some suggestions about the mapping component which could be utilized as the project continues to grow. According to the code book for entering data, we listed the name of the town and the name of the museum in the same spreadsheet cell. It was suggested that this information should be separated for cleaner data and to improve data visualizations. I also suggested that the type of museum, which was listed in the description cell, should be separated out into its own cell. This would allow for more in-depth analysis. For example, the project coordinators could see which type of museums (e.g. history, art, science) dominated certain countries. For a previous work project, I used Google Fusion Tables to analyze the artists’ books collection in the library. The chart feature in Fusion Tables allowed us to look a the relationships between cities and artists and between the artists themselves. As I was filling in the dataset for museums in Denmark, I noticed a high number of Viking history museums including ones that were open-air, living history museums. I think it would enhance the data analysis to be able to pull out this information and represent it visually.

A primary take away from our class readings is that digital humanities, while difficult to define, is more than just incorporating some kind of digital component into your project. It is about enhancing that project through digital tools–tools that allow us to see that information in new ways and make new connections. The mapping and charts created through Google Fusion Tables have the potential to make these connections.

Overall, I think the coursework prepared me for the internship. The readings and projects forced me to think about how the work I create will be seen and utilized by the public. I was already somewhat familiar with this perspective while working in instruction and research assistance in an academic library. However, the readings helped expand my perspective about what is needed for a broader public audience. While researching additional interpretations of public history (during the Digital Public History class), I came across the article “From Private Story to Public History: Irene Rathbone Revises the War in the Thirties” by Genevieve Brassard. She pointed to the need for multiple voices in telling history. By complimenting our museum list from De Gruyter with research through Google, we opened up the previously closed-off and heavily restricted list. Hopefully, this will help bring multiple perspectives to the project since we included museums and other cultural institutions that would have been overlooked. This approach helps to fill in the gaps with populations that may be otherwise overlooked. Public history and public humanities address issues like “whose history” and “whose public.” These fields are naturally interdisciplinary just like museum studies. They see events and objects within a larger context and include fields like politics, economics, arts, and culture.

One of the main things I learned during this internship is that any project, especially such as large-scale project as SCRI, needs clear directions and procedures. In part, this clarity is needed because there is a large amount of data involved. The other reason is that this information is being created and edited by multiple people, including a constant turnover of interns. I was grateful that SCRI provided a thorough code book to guide us through entering data into the assigned spreadsheets. Of course, we still had questions and needed clarifications regarding the data entry. However, Gracie was very responsive in regards to these questions.

Another lesson learned during the internship was the need to create clean, tidy data. This lesson reinforced what we learned throughout our coursework. In addition to group suggestions already mentioned, I also corrected some spelling errors. Although it was a simple edit to correct the spellings of Ireland and Poland, the errors meant that some museums were not included when filtering the data for those countries. It is essential to have clean spreadsheets in order to covert files to a CSV format and upload these files to various platforms. This approach will alleviate any issues when transferring information to another platform or even an updated version of the existing platform (since Google Fusion Tables currently has a more elaborate beta version).

In addition, the internship reinforced class readings about copyright and fair use. Dealing with copyright is already a complicated issue, but addressing this issue with digital materials makes it even more complicated. This is one of the reasons that we were required to only include copyright-free or our own images with our SCRI blog posts. In order to find viable images, I utilized resources discussed in earlier classes as well as a personal photograph.

Creative Commons Label

Overall, both the courses and internship will influence my professional work. It has already impacted my work with the artists’ books collection that I started for Atkins Library at UNC-Charlotte. I am more cognizant of making sure the metadata describing the books is written in clean, clear spreadsheets that can be easily adapted for a variety of digital humanities tools such as mapping and networking. Along with a colleague in our Digital Strategies department, I will also be supervising a library science graduate student this summer. The fellowship focuses on the digital humanities through the lens of special collections and modeling. The class readings have prepared me to guide our fellow to the core/meaningful texts and projects (e.g. projects created through the Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media) and key scholars in the field (e.g. Miriam Posner and Johanna Drucker). Even though my internship was virtual, continual communication was critical to the success of the internship. I will also take this lesson and apply it to the fellowship.

]]>http://jlrinalducci.org/internship/final-self-reflection-for-virtual-internship/feed/0Selecting Mapping Softwarehttp://jlrinalducci.org/mapping/selecting-mapping-software/
http://jlrinalducci.org/mapping/selecting-mapping-software/#respondTue, 03 Apr 2018 22:34:03 +0000http://jlrinalducci.org/?p=500Continue reading Selecting Mapping Software→]]>We are currently in the process of selecting a mapping service for our internship project. The goals is to map the various museums by country and possibly by region. Part of the final selection will be determined by what we want to accomplish through data visualization.

One of the George Mason interns Andris Straumanis started a Google spreadsheet to help determine what services are available and the pros and cons of each. The list included the following options:

Carto Engine

GeoDjango

ArcGIS

Google Maps

Google Fusion Tables

Tableau

Simply Analytics

The table lists cost (if any), data point possibilities, features, mobile capabilities, and restrictions. I also added columns for examples as a way to help visualize the capabilities of the different options. I used Google Fusion Tables for a digital project during my previous position so I created a sample or test with my data for museums in Denmark. I shared this example in the spreadsheet with a link and a screen capture. This Google spreadsheet helped us to communicate and collaborate virtually, a much-needed option with a virtual internship.

During our most recent conference call, we discussed the pros and cons of the suggested services. While there is a strong preference for Google Fusion Tables, we are waiting to get feedback from supervisor Brian Daniels. We want to confirm that this platform meets our data needs and that the logistics are in place for the Smithsonian to host this data output.

Benefits of Google Fusion Tables:

Created to simplify merging/fusing multiple tables;

Offer developers an API

Options to share and embed (Optional template to embed as an iframe on your own site)

Customize the Information Window

Search location with filters

Real-time collaboration (essential for our intern group)

Google Group for help

All steps can be completed inside own browser

Ability to include images

Ability to include information beyond museum name and location (e.g. museum description notes)

I have highlighted some of the benefits that stand out to me in terms of our project needs.

While researching the museums in Denmark, I have been amazed by the number and variety of cultural institutions. Denmark is 16,573 square miles, approximately the size of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Despite its size, it has over 600 museums. This high number is a testament to support from the government and the Danish people.

Museums range from the internationally known institutions like SMK National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen to local museums like Kokkedal’s Fredensborg Local History Museum. Denmark even has four Viking museums. However, I was fascinated to learn about there are two museums solely dedicated to glass as an art form. I have been interested in this art form ever since visiting Venice over twenty years ago, and this interest inspired me to learn more about these museums. In the port town of Ebeltoft is Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, and Hempel Glasmuseum is located in the southern city of Nykøbing.

Danish glass artist Finn Lynggaard, along with Erling Rasmussen and Bent Fredberg, created Glasmuseet Ebeltoft in 1986. It is a private institution directed by the Foundation for the Collection of Contemporary, International Glass Art. Even though it does not receive financial support from the government, the staff regularly informs the Ministry of Cultural Affairs about their projects. The museum exhibits contemporary, international glass art. It takes an interesting approach to collecting. They select artists to join the collection; once the artists accept, they send objects as a donation or loan. Artists even exchange work or send new items in order to keep the collection current. There are approximately 1,500 items in the permanent collection. It highlights over 700 artists. The museum has integrated into the town of Ebelfort through events like lectures, concerts, and children’s programs and by offering a studio space.

Nykøbing is twice the size of Ebeltoft with a population just over 16,000. Its glass museum Hempel Glasmuseum grew from the collection of industrialist J.C. Hempel (1894-1986). Similar to Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, it is a private museum. Hempel Culture Foundation manages it. In contrast, the Hempel Glasmuseum focuses on the history of glassware and not just contemporary glass art. The museum claims to have Northern Europe’s largest private collection of European glass from 1500 to 1900, as well as the largest collection of ornamental glasses and decorated goblets. In order to promote Danish glass artists, it awards the annual Hempel Glass Prize to a prominent Danish glass artist and displays their work. The museum provides similar programming with concerts, lectures, and children’s activities. Hempel Glasmuseum also tries to create an immersive experience when visiting. As visitors drive up, they see life-size bronze figures surrounded by shrubbery in the Viggo Jarl Sculpture Park.

While these museums have slightly different focuses with contemporary glassware versus historical, they both provide valuable insight into the art medium of glass.

Map of Denmark from Wikimedia CommonsPhotograph of the port town Ebeltoft, Denmark, from Wikimedia Commons
]]>http://jlrinalducci.org/uncategorized/denmarks-glass-museums/feed/0Denmarkhttp://jlrinalducci.org/internship/denmark/
http://jlrinalducci.org/internship/denmark/#respondTue, 06 Feb 2018 21:10:41 +0000http://jlrinalducci.org/?p=487Continue reading Denmark→]]>Last semester I spent becoming familiar with the Georeferenced Cultural Repository Inventory Codebook. For example, I had to research sites in order to rank them by cultural significance. Some sites proved easier to rank than others. I also became familiar about how to use Google Maps to mark a precise latitude and longitude. The focus of our information gathering had an almost frenetic feel because we were researching sites in the Caribbean, many of which was affected by Hurricanes Rita and Irma.

This semester has started with a continuation of locating and describing relevant institutions. However, there is a different feel to the approach and pacing because I am researching the developed Western European country of Denmark. Unlike the Caribbean islands, De Gruyter’s Museums of the World is filled with sites for Denmark. However, there is still a need for in-depth research and digging. Names need to be translated as best as possible and double checked to see if they still exist. Some museums are part of a larger complex which can present issues when creating tidy or manageable data. There are still some strange cases where museum associations are included, and the decision needs to be made on whether to include them or not. I was grateful that our supervisor Gracie Golden has answered our questions in a timely manner. Because of this, I was able to determine that two of the museum associations did not need to be included in the dataset. I have also been able to make final decisions about translations.

Overall, I’m looking forward to seeing how the individual information we have been collecting will play out in the larger mapping project.

View of the Design Museum in Copenhagen/København (Wikimedia Creative Commons)Several museums listed in De Gruyter’s Museums of the World, but additional research was necessary.
]]>http://jlrinalducci.org/internship/denmark/feed/0Making Connectionshttp://jlrinalducci.org/internship/connecting-to-other-projects/
http://jlrinalducci.org/internship/connecting-to-other-projects/#respondTue, 19 Dec 2017 03:24:07 +0000http://jlrinalducci.org/?p=477Continue reading Making Connections→]]>Creating Dialogue

Even though this is a virtual internship with the potential to be isolating, the Cultural Rescue Initiative has worked to build connections. We have had ongoing phone meetings as part of the larger group and as the smaller group of George Mason interns focused on the Caribbean. Our smaller group often emailed and shared documents as well. Another valuable connection has been reading their intern blog posts. This communication provides insight into other aspects and geographic areas of the project. Ultimately, this helps us as virtual interns to see the larger picture and the need for this project.

In addition, this internship has sparked conversations with my colleagues at work. Today, I discovered that the science librarian I work with at UNC Charlotte helped preserve the papers of the Hiẓb al-Ba’th al-‘Arabī al-Ishtirākī Records (Ba’ath Party Records). As a student in her library science program, she contributed to the digitization project. We talked about the overlapping concerns with preserving information. Just as terrorist groups have destroyed museum objects and cultural sites in the Middle East, Saddam Hussein tried to destroy the records of his opposition. Thankfully, the need to preserve as many documents as possible was recognized and acted upon. I’m grateful for the dialogue this internship has created.

Connections to My Teaching

The internship has provided some challenges as well. Many of the Caribbean islands we are researching did not have any sites listed in De Gruyter’s Museums of the World directory. As a result, I had to utilize the advice I give to students when conducting research and evaluating online information. Much of the information I used to find and evaluate potential museums came from Google searches. Some website came from the government and universities, but many of these were travel websites. As I result, I had to be even more careful about the information source. I chose to ask a combination of the questions from the University of Maryland Libraries. Questions 6 and 7 gained added importance because of the hurricane damage.

1. What are the qualifications of the author or group that created the site?
2. What is the purpose of the web page or site?
3. What kind of information does the web site provide?
4. Does the web site provide any contact information?
5. When was the web site last updated?
6. Is the site well maintained?
7. In your opinion, how does the web site appear overall?

In addition, I tried to find information about the museum’s mission when available. Sometimes, a museum or gallery was simply a hobby or vanity project. I think the one that will stay with me is the “bird sanctuary” and accompanying “museum” that turned out to be some birds put in the backyard by a man whose wife liked birds. Their tax status was also an important question to ask, whether they were for profit or not for profit. Many institutions fell somewhere in between the bird sanctuary and clearly qualifying museums like Trinidad’s National Museum and Art Gallery. This project has helped me to practice what I preach and reconnect with my teaching material.

National Museum and Art Gallery, Trinidad from Wikipedia CommonsDamage to St. Maarten from Hurricane Irma, September 6, 2017, from the Ministry of Defense, Netherlands
]]>http://jlrinalducci.org/internship/connecting-to-other-projects/feed/0The Lifecycle of Informationhttp://jlrinalducci.org/internship/the-lifecycle-of-information/
http://jlrinalducci.org/internship/the-lifecycle-of-information/#respondFri, 15 Dec 2017 20:55:00 +0000http://jlrinalducci.org/?p=472Continue reading The Lifecycle of Information→]]>While working to collect information on the museums and related sites in the Smithsonian Institution’s Cultural Heritage Rescue Initiative, I am reminded of a library assignment I used with students to teach them about the lifecycle of information. The assignment focused on the reporting and discourse surrounding Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The cycle starts with information posted online with blogs and other social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, usually on the same day. The next stage quickly follows with newspapers as seen with articles in The New York Times and The Washington Post about Hurricanes Rita and Irma. In the following weeks, we can find articles in popular magazines. A notable example that was brought to my attention by a fellow intern is the December 14 article “What It’s Like to Evacuate a Museum in a Natural Disaster” in The Atlantic by Sarah Zhang. Of course, this article is of particular interest to me working on the virtual side of the process with my internship. However, it will be months before information is published in scholarly and trade journals because of the process for submissions and peer-reviewing. It could then take years to see academic discussions of the events and their effects in book form due to the formal publishing timeline. This publishing timeline makes the work of the Cultural Heritage Rescue Initiative all the more urgent and necessary. As Zhang notes in her article, “not all museums are impenetrable fortresses.” As a result, it is critical that this information is recorded as quickly but also as thoroughly as possible.
Infographics created in 2012 by Jenna Rinalducci for an Honors Research Methods class at George Mason University
]]>http://jlrinalducci.org/internship/the-lifecycle-of-information/feed/0Using Librarian Research Skills to Track Down Museumshttp://jlrinalducci.org/internship/using-librarian-research-skills-to-track-down-museums/
http://jlrinalducci.org/internship/using-librarian-research-skills-to-track-down-museums/#respondTue, 05 Dec 2017 20:44:54 +0000http://jlrinalducci.org/?p=466Continue reading Using Librarian Research Skills to Track Down Museums→]]>As part of George Mason University’s graduate certificate in Digital Public Humanities, I am currently working as a virtual intern for the Smithsonian Institution’s Cultural Heritage Rescue Initiative. I am also the Arts & Architecture Librarian at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and until last year I served as the Art &amp; Art History Librarian at George Mason. Our intern group from Mason was tasked with documenting museums and other cultural sites in the Caribbean, and my daily work as a librarian has proved helpful.

Our assignment became time sensitive because of the damage caused by Hurricanes Maria and Irma. Some islands we are researching received more damage than others did. For instance, Aruba and St. Kitts and Nevis are currently open to tourists, but many areas of Puerto Rico were destroyed. This devastation and subsequent lack of power made locating and verifying museums and cultural sites especially difficult. Since many of their sites are not listed in De Gruyter’s Museums of the World directory, I had to utilize the advice I give to students when conducting research and evaluating online information.

Implementing the standards of information literacy from the American Library Association became essential to finding and evaluating potential cultural sites. It is imperative that we think critically about the information we are consuming. My first step in identifying sites was to evaluate the information sources themselves. Some information came from government websites and a few from universities and colleges. However, many sources were tourist websites. These website required additional steps in the evaluation process. I chose to ask a combination of the following questions from the University of Maryland Libraries. Questions 6 and 7 gained added importance because of the hurricane damage.

1. What are the qualifications of the author or group that created the site?
2. What is the purpose of the web page or site?
3. What kind of information does the web site provide?
4. Does the web site provide any contact information?
5. When was the web site last updated?
6. Is the site well maintained?
7. In your opinion, how does the web site appear overall?

Once identified, evaluating potential sites required additional questions. For instance, I tried to determine if the sites were not-for- profit or for-profit. I also researched the mission of the museum/site and possible staff when available. Of course, the power outages meant that many of these websites were not available. Some museums were easy to identify, like the National Museum and Art Gallery on the island of Trinidad, while another turned out to be a small bird sanctuary in someone’s backyard because of a personal hobby. However, many institutions fell somewhere in between. Whether we use terms like information literacy, historical thinking, or critical thinking, evaluating information sources has been an essential part of this process.

View of Trinidad from Mount Saint Benedict Monastery – Photograph taken by Ned Rinalducci
]]>http://jlrinalducci.org/internship/using-librarian-research-skills-to-track-down-museums/feed/0Module 8 Portfolio Posthttp://jlrinalducci.org/class-modules/module-8-portfolio-post/
http://jlrinalducci.org/class-modules/module-8-portfolio-post/#respondThu, 13 Jul 2017 16:21:54 +0000http://jlrinalducci.org/?p=463Continue reading Module 8 Portfolio Post→]]>A comment by Jerri Wieringa struck me immediately when listening to the interview with her and Celeste Sharpe talking about their course Historical Thinking and Writing in the Digital Age. Jerri remarked that the scope of the course was an important decision for them because it is a difficult balancing act. You want to provide enough information to help students think and learn, but you also don’t want to overwhelm them to the point of saturation. This is something that I have been struggling with my current project. There is so much information about handmade paper and papermaking, but I have to remind myself that I have a limited amount of time and I don’t want to overwhelm visitors to the site and discourage learning. As a result, I have focused on the timeline and exhibits. The timeline (created using Timeline JS from Knights Lab) allows me to highlight keys points in the history of paper. I then added explanatory text and images and descriptive captions. I’m hoping that the interactive and visual qualities of the timeline will engage students in learning about papermaking history. However, going back to the issue of scope I have had to limit what I include in the timeline to prevent it from being seemingly endless. To address this issue, I have included representative examples. For instance, I cited work by Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg as examples of handmade paper being incorporated into fine art in the 1970s. I also focused on the Women’s Studio Workshop as one of the key books arts and papermaking centers to emerge with the revitalization of handmade paper.

I also viewed Jennifer Coggins video about her project dealing with archives at UNC-Chapel Hill. Since she is focused on a specific archive holding, her project was naturally more focuses with modules and activities. However, I would like to incorporate her approach in some way even though my project began on a much broader level. Hopefully, by focusing on the contrast between Eastern and Western papermaking I can provide my focus to the learning. I plan to do this through the Exhibits plugin in Omeka. I have broken down the topic into key geographic areas (Japan, China, Europe, etc). From here, I am providing explanatory text and selected items from the collections of images and videos. I may be worthwhile to include selected readings as well to contribute to the learning goals. Her module approach has inspire another idea to create a page (using the Simple Pages plugin) to highlight the how-to videos and readings. I have marked these items in the metadata as “how-to” so they are searchable as hyperlinks and on the Subject Lists page. I used the Library of Congress plugin to suggest terms for the Dublin Core subjects. However, I think students would benefit from having these how-to guides highlighted on a separate page.

Instructions:

In this activity, draft a project idea/elevator pitch for your final project.

Write a very brief blog post thinking about your refined topic and detailing the focus of your work.

The origins of “true paper” which involves the breakdown and reconstitution of plant fibers is often traced back to A.D. 105 and associated with Cai Lun (sometimes spelled Ts’ai Lun), a court official and eunuch in the court of Emperor Han Ho Ti of China. Prior to the invention of paper, Chinese scribes wrote with a pointed stylus on wood or bamboo. Both were difficult to write on and difficult to store. Papermaking was limited to the East (making its way to Japan) until 751 when some historians argue that Muslim invaders of Central Asia brought papermaking techniques to Samarkind, an important point on the Silk Routes. From here, it traveled to Europe. For example, the Italian town of Fabriano is known for producing high-quality handmade paper and its paper industry dates back to the 13th century.

Papermaking is one of the most enduring technologies we have today. However, there have been significant changes to the process of making paper from individual handmade sheets to industrial productions of paper. There are also significant differences between Eastern and Western style papermaking.

This website will trace this significant and enduring technology as it traveled from the East to the West. Images and videos will demonstrate the variety of papermaking techniques and materials. A map and timeline will track its development. A bibliography of articles, books and websites will provide additional background information for researching handmade paper.

]]>http://jlrinalducci.org/final-project/sixth-piece-of-the-puzzle/feed/0The Malleable Past Portfolio Posthttp://jlrinalducci.org/class-modules/the-malleable-past-portfolio-post/
http://jlrinalducci.org/class-modules/the-malleable-past-portfolio-post/#respondThu, 06 Jul 2017 16:03:10 +0000http://jlrinalducci.org/?p=442Continue reading The Malleable Past Portfolio Post→]]>For your portfolio post, write an essay that responds to one of the questions below, or some similar question or issue that you wish to write about:

How has the malleability of the past in the digital world complicated our work as history educators?

How has that malleability made it easier to teach about and help our audience(s) engage with the past?

From our readings this week, we can see that a digital environment has helped national park sites like the Whitman Mission National Historic Site to address its complicated history online. While it is difficult and time-consuming (in part because of bureaucratic policies) to change physical signage, the website offers a quick and easy way to update information. The malleability of the online environment has allowed staff to address some of the complexities in the relationship between the missionaries and the Native Americans. Unlike the signage, we do not see the clear bias toward the Anglo missionaries. The online environment has allowed them to edit their approach. They are able to meet the new need for sensitivity as our society has changed and grown.

The digital world has also opened up access to more information sources to a wider range of people. We are able to view texts that were previously only available to people able to travel to libraries and archives. For example, I once had to travel to Vancouver to read diaries belong to Pre-Raphaelite artists because they were only available through the Special Collections and Archives department at the University of British Columbia. Today, many resources like these are now available in a digitized format. Researchers are not as limited by travel funds in order to gain access to primary sources. However, it is difficult to re-create the physical experience of handling these material in person–the delicacy, the smell, the faint notes in the margins all contributing to a reverence of the object.

Another advantage of telling history in the digital world is that we can easily connect information. We can create hyperlinks to other sections of the website or to outside websites. This approach allows us to make connections more easily and faster. Linked Open Data projects like the Artists’ Books Discovery Tool at UC-Irvine help researchers to easily make connections within the collection. Users can easily find artists’ books addressing gender issues or politics, or both. The timeline then tracks them by publication date. As noted, tools like these allow us to make connections but also allow for a more natural language than the traditional library catalog. The standardization of marking text through the Text Encoding Initiative also helps to make these connections.

Looking at images, high-resolution images allow us to examine works in ways we were unable to before including viewing works in person. We are able to see subtle details we may not have seen otherwise. For example, the digitization of artwork held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art allows us to zoom in and see details like an artist painting over a previous image. We are also able to see his or her process of painting that artwork.

While there are drawbacks, such as what information is chosen to be digitized and who has access to the internet, the digital world still offers a malleability not available through only the physical or analog.